


Dare You to Move

by ihearttvsnark



Category: Hart of Dixie
Genre: Dare You to Move, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2012-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-23 10:32:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihearttvsnark/pseuds/ihearttvsnark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoe wants to fix what she broke, but convincing Wade to give her another chance won’t be easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dare You to Move

  
** Title:  ** Dare You to Move   
** Author: ** [](http://ihearttvsnark.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://ihearttvsnark.livejournal.com/)**ihearttvsnark**  
 ** Chapters:  ** 1/1   
** Fandom:  ** Hart of Dixie   
** Pairing:  ** Zoe and Wade   
** Banner: ** [](http://geek-or-unique.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://geek-or-unique.livejournal.com/)**geek_or_unique**  
 ** Rating:  ** PG-13   
** Word Count:  ** 2,431   
** Fictable Prompt: ** #57 Lost   
** Summary:  ** Zoe wants to fix what she broke, but convincing Wade to give her another chance won’t be easy.   
** Warnings:  ** Spoilers through  **_1x22 The Big Day_ **

  


** Dare You to Move **

     She couldn’t help feeling like everyone was staring at her as she made her way down the street toward the Rammer Jammer. Zoe knew she was probably being paranoid, but every time she passed a group of people, none of them seemed willing to make eye contact with her. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d been at the center of the town gossip; if anything, that felt like her default position since the first day she’d set foot in Bluebell. But things were different now that George and Lemon weren’t getting married and there was tension between George and Wade. She refused to take all of the blame for the first part, but she knew without a doubt that George and Wade being at odds was completely her fault.

     It had all started the night of the storm when Wade had come over and they’d…Zoe chewed on her lip, her face heating at the memories of everything they’d done that night. But then George had shown up on her doorstep and he’d kissed her and told her that he wanted to be with her before she’d even had a chance to register his words. She’d gone back to her room, slightly dazed, and Wade had been lying there in her bed. It would have been so easy to just crawl back into bed and pick up where they’d left off, but somehow that had felt wrong. Maybe after almost a year in Bluebell, she was finally growing up, but instead of taking the easy way out, she’d told Wade about George being at the door.

     Her chest still tightened at the memory of the look on his face when she got to the part about the kiss and George wanting to be with her. Wade had stared at her for a long moment and then he’d gotten up and started getting dressed. She’d just stood there in the doorway, not saying anything even though her head had been screaming at her to do something, _anything_ , to make that look on his face go away. But she hadn’t and he’d walked out and she’d just stood there and let him.

     George had come back to see her the next morning like he’d promised and she’d told him that she’d been with Wade the night before and that he’d been in her room, in her bed, waiting for her the entire time George had been there telling her that he was free. He’d been shocked and angry that she hadn’t said something sooner and that she’d let him kiss her when she had another man in her bed. The disgust in his tone had hurt, but at the same time, Zoe had known that he was right. She wasn’t surprised when he left and didn’t look back at her.

     She’d considered leaving again. Her father still had the Boston offer in his pocket and she knew she could learn to love it there. Even if she didn’t, Boston could eventually lead to New York and that was what she’d always wanted. Or it had been until she’d been forced to live in Bluebell for a year and learned that there was a lot more to life than work and living in a big city. Zoe had known that she couldn’t leave again and that was why she’d continued to get up every day and go to work and help her patients and try to pretend that it didn’t matter that people stared at her wherever she went and that Wade and George were not speaking to her or to each other.

     But after two weeks of sucking it up and living with the silent treatment, Zoe didn’t want to do it anymore. She wanted to make things right or at least try to, but she was nervous as she spotted the Rammer Jammer sign coming into view. Lavon had told her that Wade had requested all of the early shifts so that there was no chance they’d run into each other at breakfast. Zoe knew Lavon was disappointed in her too, especially since he had asked her repeatedly not to hurt Wade, but at least he was still speaking to her. 

     Summoning all of her nerve, Zoe pushed open the door and glanced around the mostly empty bar. It was still early enough that most people hadn’t started their day yet, but she spotted a few of the regulars at the tables. She ignored them and moved toward the bar where she could see Wade cleaning glasses. He had his back to her and she swallowed hard as she stopped on the other side of the bar and cleared her throat. “Hi,” she said quietly.

     His back stiffened for a moment and then she saw him release the tension as he went back to cleaning the glasses in front of him. “Hi yourself,” Wade replied without turning around. “Do you need a breakfast menu?” he asked.

     “No, I need to talk to you. Please,” Zoe added. She chewed on her lip as she waited for him to turn around. Aside from a few distant glimpses of him, she hadn’t seen him since the night he’d walked out of her bedroom and she couldn’t help the fresh nerves that sprang up in her chest.

     “Sorry Doc, I’m a little busy,” Wade replied. He set down the glasses and moved further away, picking up a large bottle of ketchup before he moved around the bar to head out to the tables. He still didn’t look in her direction.

     “Wade, please,” Zoe said again, not caring that everyone in the room looked in her direction. She moved to the end of the bar and stood in front of Wade, forcing him to look at her. “I don’t want to have this conversation in the middle of the bar, but I will, with or without you,” she told him, a hint of warning in her voice. She was desperate and it wasn’t like she had anything left to lose. Most of the town already had a low opinion of her.

     His jaw was tight and the hard look on his face only made her chest ache more, but Zoe refused to back away. Wade sighed loudly and pointed to the front door. “I need a few minutes to finish getting the place ready for the breakfast rush. You can have five minutes after that,” he told her.

     Zoe nodded and opened her mouth to thank him, but he was already walking away from her. She turned and headed outside, taking a seat at one of the empty tables. She noticed more people glancing in her direction, but she ignored them too, waiting anxiously for Wade to come outside. He kept her waiting almost fifteen minutes before he made his way out and sat in the chair across from her, crossing his arms over his chest as he shot her an expectant look.

     She felt like she should start with small talk and ask how he was, but she already knew the answer to that and it would only be delaying the inevitable. “Wade, I’m sorry about what happened. I never meant to hurt you. I want to fix this,” she said.

     Wade simply shrugged. “There’s nothing to fix, Doc. We had a fun night and now it’s out of our systems. You can go right ahead and be with George without any guilt from me. Are we done?” he asked as he started to get up.

     “No,” Zoe replied with enough force in her tone to make him raise an eyebrow at her. But he stayed seated and she was going to take that as a win. “It’s not that simple, Wade, and we both know it. If that night was just fun and games for you, you would still be having breakfast with me every morning and making jokes like all was right with the world. Instead, you’ll barely look at me and you go out of your way to avoid me. I want to fix this. Tell me what to do,” she urged.

     He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound and it made Zoe’s chest tighten to the point where she wasn’t sure her lungs were working. “Fine, Zoe, you’re right. That night meant something to me and I did have feelings for you. But the second Georgie Boy came to the door, I lost. I’m the loser in this scenario and I’m sorry that you feel guilty about that, but it’s not my job to ease your guilty conscience. Are we done?” he asked again. 

     “The only person who thinks you’re a loser is you, Wade,” Zoe replied. She leaned forward, her eyes never leaving his as she spoke. “This is not just my guilty conscience talking. That night meant something to me too and I felt horrible when George showed up. I never should have let him kiss me. I didn’t _want_ him to kiss me,” she stressed. “It just happened so fast and I didn’t stop it and that’s on me. But I told him the truth the next day.”

     Wade rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I heard all about it from George when he accused me of taking advantage of you,” he said incredulously. “He’s the one who walked out on his own wedding and kissed someone he had no business kissing, but yeah, I’m the bad guy. Look Zoe, if you want to be with George, great. If you don’t, great, but I’m out. You can live your life and I can live mine.”

     “Coward,” Zoe snapped. She saw the surprised look on his face as his eyes widened, but she kept talking before he had a chance to open his mouth. “You want to put all of this on me and act like it’s no big deal to you, but we both know you’re lying. You’re afraid to fight for what you want because you’ve already decided that you lose. Coward,” she said again.

     His eyes narrowed. “I am not a coward. I just know when it’s time to pack it in. I’m not going to waste my energy chasing a woman who is clearly not interested. We had our fun, Zoe. That’s all it was ever going to be.”

     “You don’t know that,” Zoe challenged. “You kept your feelings hidden from me for months and even now, you refuse to lay them out on the table. Come on, Wade,” she said. “Where’s all that charm and swagger you were so proud of when I came to town? Are you really just going to admit defeat?” She shook her head, sending him a disappointed look.

     “I’ll be damned,” Wade muttered. He leaned back in his seat, watching her for a moment. “You’re actually going to sit there and try to goad me into this? What exactly do you want from me, Zoe? We both know George will come around eventually and then what?” he asked. “Are you still going to play the ‘let’s be friends’ card and call it a day?”

     The bitterness she heard in his voice hurt her, but Zoe couldn’t blame him for feeling that way after everything she had put him through. “I like George. He’s a good guy and he’s been through a lot. He’s the kind of guy I always saw myself settling down with. But he’s not you, Wade,” she said. “I’ve acted like an idiot and I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I will understand if you never want to forgive me. But please don’t hold back because you’re worried I’m going to chase after George. That’s not going to happen.”

     She’d had a lot of time to think over the past two weeks and she finally saw that everything she thought she could have with George was nothing more than a fantasy. Something told her that it had been a fantasy on George’s part too and sooner or later he would realize that. They’d both been looking for an escape to an imaginary perfect life. But that wasn’t how the world worked and it wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted the complicated and the messy because at least it was real. 

     Wade was quiet and Zoe didn’t know what to make of that. She fought the urge to fill the uncomfortable silence with useless words. She’d told him the truth and the ball was in his court now. She wanted more than anything for him to give her another chance, but the longer the silence went on between them, the less likely it looked that he was willing to do that. She knew it was her own fault, but that didn’t make it any easier to take.

     “Okay, Doc,” Wade said after what felt like a small eternity. “Let’s say I agree to this little plan of yours. Are you sure you want to be seen around town with me? People are going to talk. We might need to go a few towns over to get away from all the gossip.”

     Zoe raised an eyebrow, knowing perfectly well that Wade didn’t care if people were talking about him. He was worried that she would. “Wade, everyone is already whispering about me.” She tilted her head to the side where two women were blatantly watching them and whispering to each other. “I’m not ashamed to be seen with you. Do you want me to stand up on the table and shout?” she asked.

     For the first time, Wade laughed and sent her a genuine smile. “I don’t have my camera so I’m going to give you a free pass on that one.” His smile faded and he leaned forward again, holding her gaze. “I really like you, Zoe. But I don’t want to be anyone’s second choice. If we do this, you have to be all in.”

     “I am all in,” Zoe assured him, relieved, that he was giving her another chance. She wasn’t going to blow this one. “Would you like to have dinner tonight?” she asked, “My treat.”

     “You’ve got yourself a date, Doc,” Wade agreed. He motioned over his shoulder. “Now I need to get back in there and do some work so I can get home and pretty myself up for tonight.” He winked at her as he stood from his chair and started moving toward the door.

     Zoe laughed as the tension she’d been carrying around finally snapped. “Wear something slutty!” she called after him.

     Wade just shook his head, but he was grinning as he walked through the doorway.

  
  



End file.
